Tracking hurricane-generated storm surge with washover fan stratigraphy

We use the stratigraphy preserved in a washover fan to reconstruct the timing or emplacement and environmental conditions along the Matagorda Peninsula, Texas, during Hurricane Ike in 2008. Washover fan stratigraphy preserves a topset-foreset break (TFB) that rises 0.42 m in elevation as the fan bui...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geology (Boulder) 2015-02, Vol.43 (2), p.127-130
Main Authors: Shaw, John, You, Yao, Mohrig, David, Kocurek, Gary
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
airborne methods
Cenozoic
coastal sedimentation
Construction
cyclones
digital terrain models
Environmental conditions
event stratigraphy
Holocene
Hurricanes
landform evolution
laser methods
lidar methods
lithostratigraphy
Matagorda County Texas
Matagorda Peninsula
Mathematical models
Peninsulas
Preserves
Quaternary
Quaternary geology
Sea level
sediment transport
sedimentation
sediments
Storm surges
storms
Stratigraphy
Texas
Tidal waves
Time measurements
Tracking control systems
transport
trenching
United States
upper Holocene
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Summary:We use the stratigraphy preserved in a washover fan to reconstruct the timing or emplacement and environmental conditions along the Matagorda Peninsula, Texas, during Hurricane Ike in 2008. Washover fan stratigraphy preserves a topset-foreset break (TFB) that rises 0.42 m in elevation as the fan built landward. We constrain overwash flow depths to 0.1-0.32 m through deposit sedimentology, and tie the rising trajectory of the TFB to rising storm surge water levels measured in the back-barrier bay (0.03 m h-1) as the hurricane approached the coast. This relation allows us to estimate that the fan took 0.52-0.90 days to build, and was finished building before the storm surge peaked. This is 15-25% of the 3.5 days of hurricane-induced storm surge near the site. We show how washover stratigraphy can be used to constrain the timing and amount of sediment redistribution on a coast associated with a hurricane; information that is necessary to test and/or calibrate existing numerical models that predict shoreline change during hurricanes.
ISSN:0091-7613
1943-2682
DOI:10.1130/G36460.1